Guilty Pleasure: Craiglist

I have finally "discovered" the joy of Craigslist. I can't help myself! Almost daily, for a few weeks, I've been browsing the furniture, free, garden and materials sections. I keep thinking I'm going to find that diamond in the rough.

Thanks to Craigslist, I'm well on my way to furnishing the future office. So far, we scored a very simple writing desk for $10 and a 5'6" long, 30" tall bookcase for $25.

Now I'm looking for one more bookcase, a bench or pew, and headboard. After that, a media cabinet/TV stand should wrap it up.

I don't see myself ever wheeling-and-dealing for used mattresses or a second-hand La-Z-Boy. But right now, it's hard to imagine paying full price for a bookcase or table ever again.

Blogger's Guilt

For a while now, I have been feeling some Blogger's Guilt. I love catching up on other folks' house blogs, and and learning from their stories, or stealing inspiration from their pictures. And my blog sits silent, making no contributions to the house blogging community. Shame, shame, shame!

You see, we haven't touched the house in months. Towards the end of the summer, we made significant progress on the yard, but once Fall settled in, and the busy season arrived for work, home improvement came to a grinding halt.

"Why," you ask.

Well, the biggest issue is I cannot get the plaster smooth. You may remember last spring, I started the office/guest room make over. That included removing an unnecessary doorway (thus adding some very valuable wall space). Unfortunately, repairing such a large section of plaster has proved to be beyond my skill set.

Now, I'm working on figuring out how to fix it. Should I just keep adding plaster, working further and further out? Should I hire help? Ugh. What to do...

And of course, we have a party planned in a few weeks, so I now have a deadline. Naturally, I have moved the furniture back into the room, and started using it. Frequently. Ugh.